"Fear not, little flock, for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions,
and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a
treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no
moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

"Let
your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting
for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to
him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master
finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have
them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the
third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if
the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have been
awake and would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be
ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour."

Peter said, "Lord, are you
telling this parable for us or for all?" And the Lord said, "Who then
is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household,
to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant
whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will
set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, 'My
master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the
maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant
will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know,
and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew
his master's will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall
receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a
beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him
will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the
more.

A stamp with Liam Whelan's photo, issued by An Post, the Irish Postal Service, for the 50th anniversary of the Munich Disaster. The clock is in Old Trafford, the Manchester United stadium, showing the time and date of the crash.

I've posted a number of times before about the death of Irish footballer Liam Whelan in a plane crash in Munich in 1958. His life and death for me show the meaning of the words of Jesus in the gospel today: You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour. I'll use here, with some changes, what I've posted before.

I remember the moment I heard of the crash that killed so many young sportsmen in their prime. It was late afternoon and already dark and a man whom I knew as a street-singer, someone I had perceived, wrongly perhaps, to be a beggar, was running around, almost frantically, telling everyone the tragic news. It was my first experience of what some call 'a public private moment'.

These were the last words of Liam Whelan who died more than 55 years ago and who is buried near my parents. Only about six years ago I learned that when they were both around 14 Liam rescued a close friend of mine who had got into difficulties in a swimming pool. [I have baptised two of my friend's grandchildren in recent years].

The average age of Manchester United's players was only 22. One who was only 21, Duncan Edwards, from the English Midlands, was considered by many to have the potential to become perhaps the greatest footballer ever. He died 15 days after the crash.

These young men who filled stadiums were being paid only £15 a week, a little more than a tradesman could earn at the time, though very few played beyond the age of 35. Endorsements could bring in a little more income for a few talented players r. Their counterparts today are often spoiled millionaires.

Those who knew him described Liam Whelan as 'a devout Catholic'. I know that he sent his mother some money for her to go to Lourdes. 11 February 1958 was the centennial of the first apparition of our Blessed Mother to St Bernadette. Mrs Whelan, a widow since 1943 when Liam was 8, used the money instead towards a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes over the grave of her son (photo below). I pass it each time I visit my parents’ grave.

Clearly young Liam Whelan had his life focused on what was most important. He was ready to meet death. I have often spoken about him at Mass and on retreats. Today's gospel invites us to focus on the essentials, God’s love for us sinners, the hope that the life and death of Jesus offer us, the necessity of acknowledging our sinfulness to enable God’s love to break through and the importance of being always prepared for death.

But the deaths of so many talented young men still leaves a deep sadness among those who saw them play and followed their fortunes. I feel that sadness when I recall the Munich crash. The February 2008 issue of The Word, a magazine that sadly no longer exists and that was published by the Divine Word Missionaries in Ireland and Britain, had an article, A Sporting Tragedy, in which John Scally spoke for me : ‘Their funerals were like no other. Most funerals are a burial of someone or something already gone. These young deaths pointed in exactly the opposite direction and were therefore the more poignant. Normally we bury the past but in burying Liam Whelan and his colleagues, in some deep and gnawing way we buried the future’.

I remember reading about Liam Whelan's last words in a newspaper a few days after the tragedy. I've heard Harry Gregg, the Manchester United goalkeeper who survived the crash, speaking about them. They still move me and challenge me to be ready whenever death may come. Jesus isn't trying to frighten us in today's gospel but to keep us focused on important realities such as The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.

Jesus tells us that when we are honestly trying to follow him in doing the Father's will we are blessed: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.

You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour.

About Me

A Catholic priest, a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban, from Dublin, Ireland, in the Philippines most of the time since 1971 but transferred back to Ireland in June 2017.
This is a purely personal blog, not representing the Columbans. My hope is that whatever appears here will in some way bring readers closer to Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel as proclaimed by the Cathoiic Church.